Sandvik site recognised as Industry 4.0 ‘lighthouse’

January 11, 2019

The World Economic Forum has officially recognised the Sandvik Coromant production unit in Gimo, Sweden as an advanced Industry 4.0 facility.

The plant has been selected as a ‘lighthouse’ site, namely one that comprehensively deploys a wide range of Industry 4.0 technologies and use cases at scale, while keeping people and sustainability at the heart of innovation.

Through its announcement, the World Economic Forum is acknowledging the strides that the world’s best manufacturers are making towards leveraging the technologies of Industry 4.0 into modern production. Each lighthouse is selected from a survey of over 1,000 manufacturing sites based on their success in adopting Industry 4.0 technologies and demonstrating tangible benefits.

According to the World Economic Forum’s announcement, Sandvik Cormorant’s Gimo facility: “Has created a digital thread through its production processes that has significantly raised labour productivity. One example is its ‘touchless changeover’ which allows design patterns to be changed automatically, even during unmanned shifts.”

Nadine Crauwels, president of Sandvik Coromant said: “Having our Gimo production unit listed as a lighthouse not only demonstrates true performance and increased competitiveness, but just as important, it shows sustainability at the heart of innovation.”

Magnus Jarlegren, vice president supply, added: “Productivity improvement and technology development are two pillars for production that we have supported aggressively over the years. Being selected as a lighthouse for Industry 4.0 by the World Economic Forum is recognition of which we are very proud, and proves that although we are at the beginning of this journey, we are heading in the right direction. This strengthens our ability to shape the future together.”

VR Vijay Anand, head of digital machining, commented: “Digital machining is a key Sandvik Coromant offer for our customers. Our recognition as an advanced adopter of Industry 4.0 endorses our understanding and maturity in this complex area. It also endorses the fact that we build digital offers which deliver tangible business value to our customers.”

The World Economic Forum’s aim is to build a network of manufacturing lighthouses that address the problems confronting industries in both advanced and emerging economies when it comes to investing in advanced technologies.

Earlier work by the World Economic Forum identified that over 70% of businesses investing in technologies such as big data analytics, artificial intelligence or 3D printing are not able to take the projects beyond pilot phase.

To aid the learning and adoption of technologies by other companies, Sandvik Coromant and the rest of the lighthouses in the network have agreed to open their doors and share knowledge with other manufacturing businesses.